Drive (golf)
In golf stroke mechanics, a drive, also known as a tee shot, is a long-distance shot played from the tee box, intended to move the ball a great distance down the fairway towards the green.
Longest drives
An average professional male golfer is capable of hitting a drive using a 1 wood over 300 yards, maximizing power by driving the legs and hips and the body weight into the swing. Some of the biggest hitters on the PGA Tour such as Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus, John Daly and Dustin Johnson at very best are capable of driving a ball over 350 yards, although very rare in professional play, but regularly hit drives of over 300 yards. The top 200 or so biggest hitters on the tour in 2007 averaged a drive of 265 yards or over. Some of the biggest hitters on the female tour such as Michelle Wie can hit a ball as far as most of the male players, averaging around 280 yards and capable of almost 350 yards a maximum if the course is downhill. As of 2011, Watson has the longest average drive in professional golf, with an average drive of 315.2 yards, capable of generating a ball speed of 194 mph and drives of up to 370 yards.Mike Austin holds the world record for the longest drive in professional play, driving 515 yards at the Winterwood Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1974, blasting it 65 yards past the flag on the par-4 fifth. His golf swing, known as The Mike Austin Swing, is practiced and taught by current golf professionals. Other notable swings are Ben Hogan's swing, Jim Furyk's swing and Tiger Woods' swing. Golf driving is big business in the United States and golf driving instruction is a multimillion-dollar business with many manuals and instructors offering their expertise to maximize the drives of their consumers.
